We know numbers can be boring, but in the case of plastic, they can be staggering! Poly, our plastic friend, tried his best to help you conceptualize what the effect of “just one” can be. But let’s dive deeper into the numbers and really try to understand the impact that our choices can make.

If everyone on our planet still chose to use “just one” bag in a year that would still be 7 billion plastic bags floating around trying to find a home. But is that number even realistic? There are a lot of dedicated people trying hard to be zero waste and actually eliminating their use of plastic bags (awesome job BTW), but that is not most of us. So, let’s think about this in more “average” terms for plastic bag use. The average American goes to the grocery store 72 times a year. If we were to cut down our plastic bag use to just one bag per trip, Americans would still be consuming almost 26 billion plastic bags; 32% of those will find their way into our oceans.

So now let’s look at these numbers in more manageable terms. 32% of the 26 billion plastic bags still adds up to 8.3 million plastic bags. At 1.5 billion, cows are the second most populous mammals on the planet, second only to man, but much less than the plastic bag population. There are less than a billion dogs on our Earth. To match our “just one” per trip usage you would have to multiply the Earth’s population of dogs by 26!

There are more plastic bags used in a year (4 trillion) than the combined total of humans plus the next 10 most populous mammals! Over 3 trillion more!

The next time you head to the grocery store, think about the ripple effect that your “just one” might have. Reusable bags can be a good solution to our overpopulation of plastic bags.

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Plastic bags can be harmful to our wildlife in multiple ways. The two biggest are becoming entangled in the plastic or mistaking the bags for food. You may ask why those silly animals are eating plastic. Well, that’s because plastic smells like food. Why do rats dig through trash or bears attack camps? Human food is becoming an addiction for animals and if they smell a plastic bag that used to hold food scraps or a sandwich bag with remnants of a PB&J, you’d better believe that if it smells like food, to an animal it is food!

Other sea life are having the same problem; algae sticks to plastic almost immediately after it enters the water. The sense of smell is a large part of how many underwater creatures locate their next meal. Once again, if it smells like food, it must be food! But the smell isn’t the only way that sealife are getting tricked by plastic bags. Google “DIY jellyfish” and one of the methods is upcycling old plastic bags, and if it’s enough to fool us you can be sure that it fools a turtle. The poor guys are consuming plastic bags at an alarming rate due to the convincing way plastic bags float underwater.

Turtles are not only eating the plastic, but like most underwater, flying, and land-based animals they are getting tangled in them too.

Enjoy your fish a la plastic!

Have you guessed what the third most popular use for plastic grocery bags is? For wet, gross, and smelly items! Most people reuse their plastic bags while traveling to hold shoes, keep wet or sweaty clothes from making a mess, or to hold a dirty diaper. Well, prepare to get your mind blown. There is an amazing alternative to the plastic bag that will actually accomplish the tasks you were hoping to accomplish. It’s called a wet bag! And here are the awesome things a wet bag can do to replace your plastic grocery bags!

Bagging Dirty Clothes
Wet bags are superior for dirty, wet or smelly clothes. Put your clothes in the bag, zip it up, and all the water or smell stays inside. When you get home all you have to do is unzip, empty the clothes into the washer, and toss the bag in with it!

Traveling
Wet bags are the perfect travel companion. Use it as a dirty clothes bag, keep trash in one spot on a road trip, or to bag your shoes or toiletries. Unlike a plastic bag, you know that the bag will hold up through the whole trip and protect the contents of your suitcase from getting dirty or ruined. Wet bags can stop that broken foundation bottle from ruining your favorite pair of jeans!

Ice pack
Wet bags are, you probably guessed it by now, water tight! That means if you forgot to put the ice pack back in the freezer, toss some ice in your wet bag and voila! No more leaky ice packs!

Lunch Bags
Wet bags also keep moisture out and will protect that PB&J from getting soggy. The bags come in lots of different sizes to fit your needs.

Babies
No, don’t put your baby in the bag. But do use it to bag dirty burp cloths and diapers when you’re on the go. And they can seem like a lifesaver in case of any potty training accidents. Happen to be somewhere that you can’t easily dispose of a disposable diaper? Or, maybe you’re REALLY environmentally conscious and use cloth diapers? Wet bags can keep the smell under control until you make it home. Can your plastic bag do that? Nope!

Motion Sickness
Now you no longer have to worry if your plastic bag has a small tear. That last minute, no time to pull over sickness isn’t going anywhere!

So the next time you’re at the store and are watching as your groceries are loaded into plastic bags, think to yourself, “Do I really need, or want, these plastic bags?” And if you have your wet bags with you they can hold your groceries too!

The number two way that our members reuse plastic grocery bags – free poop scoop! Yes, they sure are helpful, but who else has grabbed a faulty bag on their way out the door and ended up with a finger of poop? No way it’s just us! Besides being unreliable, plastic bags are also terrible for the environment. So on our mission to break free of the plastic prison we are in, here are some alternative ideas to help us pick up after our pets.

Poop Scoop 

Ever seen the nifty litter grabber tool? Well they make those for poop as well! Now that sounds much more pleasant than bending over to get poop on your finger. Just squeeze the trigger, the scoop opens up and then just squeeze to release in the trash. A quick rinse with the water hose and you’re ready for your next walk!

Newspaper

Newspaper takes less time to break down in the landfill than plastic bags, so if you still insist on bending down to pick up poop, this may be the solution for you!

Flushable Bags 

These are a good alternative in some cases, but check with your city to make sure it is OK to flush animal waste down the toilet. Flush Puppies are a great option because they are water soluble! After a few days of soaking they’ll be gone (just a few billion days sooner than a plastic bag).

We asked, and guess what…we all had the same answers! 

Yep, when we asked our members how they reuse their plastic grocery bags, most of you had the same answer: as trash liners. While we think it’s great that you’re extending the life of plastic grocery bags, we all know it’s best if we eliminate our dependency on them completely. Lots of grocery stores are moving away from plastic bags, or trying to, but to encourage the final push there needs to be less of a demand for the bags. One way for us to show the grocery stores that it’s time to ban the bag is to show them we don’t need them anymore. This month EnviroPerks wants to help you find new ways to complete tasks that we have been reliant on plastic bags to help us with for years.

So is there really a way to throw away your trash without a grocery bag?

YES! 

Here are some ideas to make a bigger impact on the sustainability of our planet.

1 – No Bag 

This is the easiest and cheapest way to avoid the plastic grocery bag. Think about it, most of your waste is pretty dry. Toss it in the bin, then rise it out when you empty it if it needs to be cleaned. You can make it an easy habit to clean the bin every time you clean the toilet!

2 – Reusable Trash Bags 

These are super easy to use! Buy one once and then just toss it into your washer every time you empty your trash. Reusable trash bags are a great alternative to plastics if you feel like you have to have a bag lining the bin. Think about the resources used in washing and drying a load of laundry. Buying a few washable bags and hanging them to dry will leave an even smaller carbon footprint than plastic bags!

3 – Compostable Bio-Based Bags 

These are great if you compost at home. But if not properly composted these can be just as bad as any other plastics. A compostable bag in the landfill or the ocean will not break down. On the bright side, if you are not ready not go bagless these are a great start, make sure they say bio based and at least you will know that they were not made using fossil fuels.

4 – Recycled Plastic Bags 

The higher the recycled content the better! Only about 10% of plastic is ever reused so if you can help create more of a demand for recycled plastics rather than new products you’re helping the sustainability efforts!

So, although there is no one size fits all answer, you have options to do better. Take small steps at first, every step will help to reduce the use of plastic grocery bags. Show stores everywhere that we are not afraid to ban the bag!

Think you know what can be recycled in your city? Take a look at this to find out!

Got 3 minutes? Sure you do! Waiting in line for a coffee? That’s the perfect amount of time to become an expert on the single stream recycling process. Since January, 2019, we have been sharing with you objects that are a real pain to the recycling process. So, watch this short video and see if you can spot where things like hoses, sharp metal tools, and other foreign objects could cause injury to a worker or the machine!

Many of you are correct in making the correlation that wire hangers are made out of metal and in theory should be recyclable. The problem is that the recycling equipment that makes it possible to have single stream processing can be damaged by the hangers. Before you say “ditch the machines”, remember that single stream recycling enables us to throw all our stuff into one bin instead of sorting it. That small convenience means that a lot more people take the time to recycle curbside.

So as long as machines are used to sort our recyclables, hangers are going to continue to pose a threat. Have you ever grabbed a wire hanger and easily bent it? Now imagine a much stronger machine getting ahold of that weak metal… yeah, it becomes a tangled mess.

But don’t worry, there are solutions! Many scrap metal places will accept them. You can also check with your local dry cleaner or thrift store. Many of them are always in need of a few more hangers. Another thing that you can do is to avoid buying metal hangers; opt for something a little more sturdy. They may cost a little more but should last at least twice as long so the cost to our Earth will be less.

Next time you think about tossing that wire hanger into your curbside recycling bin, imagine how a piece of string gets wrapped around your vacuum beater bar (Yeah, hangers can get tangled like that!). Metal hangers are a modern-day necessity, but by purchasing durable, long-lasting hangers we can put off their inevitable trip to the trash bin–which is where they belong since they aren’t recyclable.

Many people choose to shred important documents to maintain privacy and protect against identity theft. But that shredding of paper breaks down the paper fibers which makes it difficult to sort and recycle. The small pieces get lost in the sorting process, ending up at the landfill instead of being recycled.

For a while, we here are EnviroPerks felt like we had to make a choice between protecting our privacy and being environmental stewards. But that’s not the case and we don’t want you to feel like you have to make that tough choice yourself! It IS possible to do both, and here’s how you do it.

Drop off your personal papers at a professional shredding service; the fee is small and you will get a guarantee that your personal information is disposed of properly. Professional companies are able to bale the shredded paper, delivering it to the processing facility ready to be processed–no sorting required.

If you are more comfortable doing it on your own, check with your city. They may have the ability to process it if it is delivered to them in a specific way, i.e., properly bagged or boxed. Some cities host events where you can drop it off and they will take care of it for you.

Or you can get creative! There are some great ways to upcycle shredded paper such as using it to create firestarters. The next time you are camping you won’t have to worry about finding dry kindling. Since most paper is compostable, you can use it to help garden seeds get their start. Along with these practical uses, there are some off the wall uses such as papier-mâché and stuffing scarecrows or donating it to local shelters for pet bedding.

Any way you decide to reuse, upcycle or recycle your shredded paper, we hope you no longer feel like you have to choose between protecting your privacy and being green. There’s no need to worry when you can do both!